Semiprozines in the 2009 Locus Poll

- Neil Clarke

The results from the annual Locus Magazine poll are detailed in the July issue and highlights the accomplishments of many semiprozines:

Best Magazine

  • #6 Interzone
  • #7 Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet
  • #8 The New York Review of Science Fiction
  • #9 Clarkesworld Magazine
  • #10 Strange Horizons
  • #11 Weird Tales
  • #14 Ansible
  • #15 Postscripts
  • #19 Fantasy Magazine
  • #20 Black Gate
  • #21 Internet Review of Science Fiction

Best Novelette

Best Short Story

2009 Brain Harvest Mega Challenge

- Markets

From the Brain Harvest website:

As writers, we’re warned constantly against resorting to tried-and-true tropes, usually for very good reason. In fact, our colleagues at Strange Horizons have assembled a very smart list of contrived plots seen too many times (http://strangehorizons.com/guidelines/fiction-common.shtml).

But here at Brain Harvest, we’d actually like to see if you can untrope the tropes, and create something interesting, solid, and, well, bad ass from these overly familiar clichés. In fact, we’re willing to stake the first annual Brain Harvest Mega Challenge on the fact that one of you out there can… in 750 words or less.

Jeff VanderMeer resplendent in homemade BH 'stache!

Your entries will be read by the Brain Harvest editors, and the winners chosen by our celebrity guest judge, the amazing, award-winning writer and editor, Jeff VanderMeer.

The winning entry will receive $100, publication in Brain Harvest, a hand-knitted mustache, 1 Fresh Eyes crit (up to 10,000 words) to be used on the piece of their choice, and the accolades of their peers, friends, and family.

The second place winner will receive $25, publication in Brain Harvest, and a hand-knitted mustache.

Details available here.

July Issue of Apex Magazine

- Markets

The July 2009 issue is Apex’s first since their brief hiatus. It includes:

FICTION:

  • “She Called Me Sweetie” by Glenn Lewis Gillette
  • “…That Has Such People in It” by Jennifer Pelland
  • “The Frozen Sky” by Jeff Carlson

AUDIO FICTION:

  • “Foiled” by Alethea Kontis

NON-FICTION:

  • BEAUTY AND DYNAMITE: “Here Lies an Era” by Alethea Kontis
  • Interview with Nate Kenyon
  • Interview with J.M. McDermott
  • Editorial: I Just Can’t Help Myself by Jason Sizemore

It can be found online here.

Beneath Ceaseless Skies #20

- Markets

Issue #20 of  Beneath Ceaseless Skies is now available:


 The Land of Empty Shells by Caroline M. Yoachim

The rest of the birthing was hard work, but painless. Dziko and Terra sprinkled water over the clay to soften it and kneaded the flesh together until there was no way to separate his riverbed brown from her sunset orange. Then they divided the babyflesh into two equal pieces, soon to be their children.

The Bone House by James Lecky

I like to carve. I like to sculpt. But the ironwood trees in the forest shatter even the finest blades. Father says that the war has changed them, that the magic of the battlemages has infected the land, and I have no cause to doubt him—he has been my educator and my window on the world. Bone is easier to shape.

July 2009 Issue of Clarkesworld

- Neil Clarke

cw_34The July issue of Clarkesworld Magazine is now available:

FICTION
Placa del Fuego by Tobias S. Buckell
Placa del Fuego (AUDIO VERSION) by Tobias S. Buckell, read by Mike Allen
On the Lot and In the Air by Lisa Hannett

NONFICTION
Dirty Hands and Invisible Words: Speculative Fiction Book Editors Speak Out, Part 1 of 2 interview by Jeremy L. C. Jones
Doing Crappy Things to Good Characters: A Conversation with Jim C. Hines by Jeremy L. C. Jones
Helping Hands: Fairylands, Boneshops and More by Neil Clarke

COVER ART
Sea Monster by Jasper Ng